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The Trump administration announced today a plan to allow states to change Medicaid funding to block grants — which would amount to a cut in Medicaid funding. The Protect Our Care Illinois coalition is opposed to this plan because if it were enacted here, it would drastically decrease health care access for people living in poverty who are among the most marginalized in our state. Medicaid block grants threaten healthcare access by cutting the funding of this life-saving health insurance program. Illinoisans cannot afford this attack on healthcare.

“The administration’s
decision will gut access to services that keep those most in need, including
people living with chronic conditions like opioid addiction and mental illness,
from engaging in health care,” said Logan Charlesworth, Protect Our Care
Illinois’ Coalition Manager. Medicaid covers 1 in 4 Illinoisans, and nearly
one-third of Illinois’ Medicaid Expansion population is living with a mental
health or substance use condition.

Additionally, all Medicaid
block grant proposals and similar reforms would dramatically cut federal
funding and shift costs to the states. This is an attack on people’s
healthcare, and would harm Medicaid funding. Medicaid is a popular, 55-year-old
program that provides health insurance to tens of millions of Americans.

The Trump administration’s Medicaid
cuts would harm Illinoisans’ health, the stability of our economy, and the
ability of state government to fund Medicaid and other priorities, like
education and social services. Protect Our Care Illinois calls on our state
elected leaders, including Governor Pritzker, to firmly and quickly denounce
the Trump administration’s Medicaid Block Grants plan.

5 days ago
Police brutality is a public health crisis. Protect Our Care Illinois stands with Black communities across the state, and lifts their efforts to demand justice so they are afforded the basic right of existing without fear. Read our statement: https://t.co/53Hxdro0sJ